That's What You Get
by Copper.Shine
Summary: First she punches him in the face, nearly burns his house down, and almost slices him open with a switchblade all in one day. Yep, Impmon could tell this girl would be trouble.
1. Then: Faking Fainting

**Title**: That's What You Get

**Rating: **Teen (13+)

**Warnings: **Lots of cussing; mild forms of violence

**Genre: **General/Friendship (Possible romance in the future)

**Summary**: First she punches him in the face, nearly burns his house down, and almost slices him open with a knife, all in one week. Yep, Impmon could tell this girl would be trouble.

**Extra**: Before we start, the main character in this thing is my OC, Ciagan McCormick. It's a guy's name, I know, but I thought it fit her regardless. It's pronounced "key-gan," and the shortened version of it, Ciag, is "key-g." Just thought I'd mention that before we started. Also, chapters titled 'Then' are in the past, 'Now' are present.

Also, 'dingbat' basically means 'idiot.' It's going to get used a lot in this.

**Chapter Playlist**: Up to the Roof (Blue Man Group); That's What You Get (Paramore); Shakin' Hands (Nickelback)

* * *

**Then: Faking Fainting**

Ciagan McCormick had a little routine going for the twenty minutes she spent waiting on her brother. Sigh, scowl down at the ground, watch people walk by, run her fingertips over the white switchblade in her pocket, and hop back to step one. Repeat and keep it up until the agonizing minutes were over where she was stuck doing absolutely nothing.

She was a lot of things, but patient sure as hell wasn't one of them. Well, she could wait for an eternity as long as she had something to _do_. For a moment there she wished she had her drumsticks in her hands. Running a hand through her short red-brown hair, she scanned the rivers of people with her light-grey eyes walking past her on the sidewalks. Even after living in West Shinjuku for at least a year there were still plenty of unfamiliar faces out there that she had yet to meet.

"Hey, Ciag!"

Her head whipped around to her left, immediately recognizing that the person was someone close to her from using her nickname. And there coming in her direction was her older brother by three years, Russell. He stood at six feet five inches, towering over his little sister who was only five feet four, with the same light-grey eyes they got from their mother and the shaggy sunshine blond hair from their dad.

The annoyed scowl she had moments before turned into a wryly grin as her brother approached. "About time you showed up," she said in an irritated tone as she fell into step beside him.

"Well, sorry if I'm suddenly making friends all at once." He retorted, though the half-smile he had on his face gave him away.

Ciagan gave an amused snort as she replied teasingly, "Who would be fool enough to befriend you? The janitors?"

Russell gave his sister a mock glare. "That's rich coming from someone that made friends with a pack of nerds on her first day at school."

Which was true. But hey, she'd choose nerds over brainless jocks any day. At least she could have an actual conversation with them instead of listening to the latest gossip bullshit. Not only that, but the Yu-Gi-Oh and Duel Masters card games during lunch were pretty entertaining to watch, especially listening to them smack talk to each other. There were plenty of times that the guys had her giggling hysterically, which won her several odd stares. Which she was used to.

But of course, after switching over to being homeschooled for her senior year, those days were over.

Ciagan gave a one shouldered shrug and slung an arm around his waist, and he draped one of his on her shoulders in return. "Whatever. I'm just ready to get home and chill."

Russell glanced down at her curiously. "What, had a rough day or something?"

Shrugging once more she replied, "The usual; run, study, run, study. Oh, but I ran into this girl on my way here. One of those perfect little cheerleaders that always rub me the wrong way."

"Okay, so what happened?"

"The usual crap. Come at me all solo style with her gaggle of clones behind her, throw out a few half-assed insults and walk off." With that she gave a fluttering motion with her free hand.

Russell gave it some thought before asking, "Why haven't you wailed into her like you did those other bitches back in Tokyo?"

Ciagan gave him a look as if he'd sprouted tentacles out of his nose. Which she would have found funny as hell instead of shocking, but you get the point. "Because dingbat, the whole reason mom moved us over here was to give us a fresh start. No way am I screwing it up this time around." Turning her gaze straight ahead of her she added, "And besides, nailing a chick in the middle of the sidewalk wouldn't make my image look too good afterwards."

Her brother nodded attentively and replied, "Good answer."

"You're afraid I'll go backwards," she half-asked and half-stated with a frown.

Russell and Ciagan had these unspoken rules between them: no bullshitting, no wasting time beating around the bush, and no sugarcoating. They both told each other everything and never held back with their opinions and advice, and nothing they said to each other could break their inseparable bond.

So naturally, Russell came out and said point blank, "Yea, I was at first. But it seems like you're finally getting straightened out."

He ruffled her hair and gave a crooked grin which took some of the sting out of his words. With a bright smile she tightened her arm around him, and silence followed before they separated to climb into Russell's white piece of crap Lumina.

"Coming?" He asked from the driver's side when he noticed Ciagan still standing on the sidewalk.

She turned her head in the direction of their house and gave Russell a smirk. "Nah, I think I'll run this time."

"Be careful," he said as she pulled a pair of blue sweatbands out of her jean pocket.

"I will after I break every bone in my body and bust my face open. Again," she said, her grin widening as Russell shook his head. He muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'weirdo' as he started the car up. With a short wave, he drove off, leaving Ciagan standing alone in the middle of the city.

She couldn't help the grin splitting across her face from the excited pounding of her heart as she sprinted. In _parkour_, the whole purpose was to find a path that no one else can take.

That's exactly what she was going to do.

* * *

Today had been a rather lazy day, compared to most. The kids were spending the rest of the afternoon in the day-care center, giving him some much needed downtime. Not that he didn't miss them or anything. They meant the world to him, but every once in a while he just needed some time to get away and think for a bit. Scaring humans was a bonus on his part, but unfortunately most of them were either at work, school, college, or wherever they needed to be.

And surprisingly enough, Impmon wasn't as bored as he should've been.

In the past he would've lost his damn mind from having to stay still as long as he did, but right now he was just glad to have some time to relax and chill for a while. He'd already gotten used to the sounds of the city, and eventually it all morphed into a monotonous drone that he'd figured out how to tolerate without going completely insane.

His small purple body was propped in the crook where a branch protruded from the tree's trunk, his gloved hands behind his head and his clawed feet crossed at the ankles. His neon green eyes were closed; the only movement he made was the slow rise and fall of his chest and the breeze causing his tail to sway every once in awhile. Other than that, he was completely still.

Until alarm shot through him when he heard footsteps nearby, shattering his previously relaxed state and causing him to sit up quickly.

Looking down, he found a human running in his direction, and watched with interest as it vaulted over the park benches and twisted through the stair railings with fluid grace.

_What the hell is he doing? _Impmon thought, quickly assuming it was a male from the short shaggy haircut and the baggy clothes he wore. But as the human neared his tree and eventually plopped down into a panting heap beneath him, closing its eyes and leaning its head back, Impmon noticed that it was in fact a female from her unmistakable feminine face.

His nose scrunched unpleasantly after a few seconds of the human's unexpected arrival as the stench of sweat assaulted his nose full force. _Christ_, _she smells like a friggin' gym sock! _He thought as he fought the urge to clamp a hand over his small black nose. His first instinct was to throw a fireball down at her feet to make her go away, until he decided that he should do better than that. A little payback for making his sense of smell scream in agony.

* * *

_Freedom_.

It filled her heart. It pumped through her veins. It drove her. It motivated her.

It's what she lived for.

Her movements were fluid as she jumped walls, twisted herself through railings, and made it seem like nothing could stand in her way. When, in truth, there wasn't. She'd always find ways to get over or around them and put her imagination to the test. Obstacles were like locks you had to pick. Sooner or later with a lot of time and practice, you can come up with the right combination of jumps, leaps, and grabs to unlock it.

The loose white tank top with the black Evanescence symbol on it absorbed a lot of the sweat rolling off of her body, and she chided herself for wearing jeans today. Even if they were baggy, they were heavy and restricted her leg movement. Russell's camouflage button up shirt billowed behind her as she ran. The blue sweatbands on her wrists kept the sweat from running down her arms and onto her hands, which meant the effectiveness of her grip would be intact. Years of gripping concrete had caused her hands to become rough and calloused.

She'd practiced the art since she was thirteen. But even so, she'd have her moments of clumsiness and wind up with a scab or scratch here and there. The worst she'd ever gotten was a broken wrist or a sprained ankle. Nothing serious. Back in her old town when she was still running with kids that belonged to gangs, the biggest thing was survival. You had to be able to defend yourself and run if needed be. Fight or flight. Martial arts and brute strength is what they used to fight, and for flight? That's where _parkour_ came in; where she came from, no self-respecting punk would be caught dead in the back of a cop car. On top of that there were plenty of sleazebags and criminals on the streets to run from.

She was small for her age, both in height and build. So naturally, she was a runner instead of a fighter; she would bust someone's nose open when they pushed the right buttons, though, which happened a lot before.

Of course, that was all in the past now. Just another obstacle to jump over and keep going to hit the one behind it. She wasn't the same person she was before, and she was making a valiant effort to keep herself from reverting back. In the words of Reliant K, 'who she is hates who she's been.'

As a brick wall was presented to her, all it took was well placed footwork and speed for her to make it to the top. From there she scrambled up and over it, leaving it behind her. Easy.

But the silver chain around her neck was proof enough that there was some shit in the past that you can't leave behind.

As soon as she vaulted over a park bench and launched herself through the stair railings, reality bitch-slapped her as her body was hit with exhaustion like a bag of rocks. She was in the middle of the park, the grass beneath her shoes soft compared to the hard as hell concrete she was used to.

Not really caring if she made it home late today, Ciagan plopped down underneath a tree and gave her body a few minutes to recuperate before going back at it again.

Just as she closed her eyes and leaned back on the tree, she realized with dread that she forgot to put on deodorant this morning.

* * *

As quietly as he could, Impmon jumped down about two branches before landing silently on the ground next to the human. Because of her exhausted state and by some miracle, she still wasn't aware of his presence.

Before it was too freaking late.

"Badda-boom!" He yelled, a small plume of fire erupting from his fingertips, ready to scare the girl shitless with it.

"_Fucking hell_!" The girl screeched back at him.

He expected her to jump up and run just from his battle cry. He expected her to give a girlish scream that would send him into a laughing fit.

What he _didn't_ expect was for her to cock her right fist back, and punch him dead in the face.

Which is exactly what she did.

His face exploded with pain as her first two knuckles caught him right in the nose; the hit caused him to stagger back. He completely forgot about the fireball as it dissolved, his gloved hands gripping where the girl had clocked him.

She had already leapt to her feet, muscles tense and hands clenched into fists, her grey eyes alight with surprise. Impmon met her gaze, his own eyes scorching with anger as he snarled, "What the _hell_ was that?"

Surprise and shock were replaced with anger and disbelief at his question as the human yelled back, "That's what you get, asshole!" Without thinking and previous exhaustion forgotten, she ran right past him and jumped over the three foot tall brick wall separating the park from the sidewalk on the other side with ease.

"Hey!" Impmon roared furiously, pointing with one hand as though he had all the authority in the world with the other gripping his throbbing nose. "I ain't through with you yet, punk!"

But she was long gone.

_Damn it, it's _not_ supposed to work like that, _the demon Digimon thought as he groaned. How the hell was he supposed to explain to Ai and Mako why his nose was red, even through his white fur, without confessing that he just got clobbered by a girl?

"Freakin' human," he growled under his breath as he turned to head on home. "I'm _definitely_ gettin' you back for this!"

* * *

"Jesus, looks like you ran to hell and back," Russell commented as Ciagan walked in through the back door. He was sitting at the couch in the living room, watching Transformers for the thousandth time when he heard the door click behind him. Turning around, he was faced with an amusing sight. His little sister's shirt was absolutely _soaked_ with sweat, her hair disheveled, and face flushed slightly.

"I feel like I did," she replied before wiping the sweat off of her cheek, accidentally smearing a small amount of dirt that had stuck to her hands on her face. "Of course, that's what you get for running in ninety-something degree heat."

Russell was about to reply when their grandmother yelled from the kitchen, "Ciagan! Take a damn shower!"

"Come on, Gamma. I know I don't stink _that_ bad!"

The sound of clanging pans came from the kitchen before she replied, "You've got somewhere to be later tonight, so get moving."

Ciagan turned to Russell with a confused expression. "What's the old bat talking about?"

"I heard that!"

"No, you didn't!"

Russell shrugged and turned back to the TV. "Dunno, she didn't say anything to me about it."

Irma McCormick developed a horrible twitch in her mouth as she was trying to keep from grinning as her dark grey eyes fell on her granddaughter who stood at the doorway of the kitchen. She plopped down into one of the four wooden chairs at the kitchen table as her bony fingers picked at the pack of smokes in her hands.

"Had fun?" She asked amusingly, sticking a cigarette in between her lips as she searched blindly for the lighter in her pocket.

"As usual." Ciagan replied as she washed her hands at the sink. "So what am I supposed to be doing?"

It took three flicks of the lighter for it to finally spark and set the end of the cigarette ablaze. Ciagan shifted her weight over to her other foot as she wiped her hands dry with a paper towel and watched the cloud of smoke barreling out of her grandmother's lips.

"I met this woman today," Irma began, taking another puff of her cigarette before continuing, "who needed someone to watch her kids later this evening while she and her husband go out."

Ciagan lifted an eyebrow curiously. "And what exactly does this have to do with me?"

Instead of replying, Irma took a long drag and regarded Ciagan with a pleased expression. Naturally that set Ciagan on edge, because anything that Gamma found funny would always, _always_ end disastrous for either her or Russell. It took her half a minute before realizing what Irma meant.

"Kids?" Ciagan said unbelievably, grey eyes wide as saucers, "You expect _me_ of all people to babysit?"

"Pretty much," was Irma's smug reply.

Her mahogany-haired granddaughter gave an amused snort. "Right, like any sensible adult would let someone like me into their house. Much less watch their kids."

"I told her all about you," Irma said, smoke rolling off of her tongue as she spoke. _Like the freaking dragons from hell_, Ciagan thought irritably. "And she decided to give you a chance."

Crossing her arms over her flat chest and leaning her hip against the counter, Ciagan narrowed her eyes at Irma. "Did you tell her about the piercings?"

Irma gave a quick nod. "Yes."

"Tattoos?"

"Yes."

"What about—"

"I just got it out of my mouth that I told her everything. Except family issues and the gang." She said exasperatingly.

Ciagan watched her for a moment, waiting—no, _hoping_ for the punch line. When it never came, she came to the dreaded realization that she was serious. "Where'd you meet her at, Gamma? The insane asylum?"

"At the park, actually."

"Right," she replied with a disbelieving nod. "Surely you told her all about my habits, too?"

"And how hard you're trying to break them." The old woman said.

"And…?"

"And she agreed to give you a chance."

Silence followed her words for a few moments until Russell walked into the kitchen, stopping in his tracks as he noticed how Irma and Ciagan were looking at each other.

"Okay, who did what now?" He asked curiously, having missing the whole conversation despite being less than ten feet from the doorway all because of his Transformers obsession.

Ciagan nodded over to Irma and replied, "She wants me to babysit a bunch of kids."

"Two of them, actually." The old woman corrected as she came close to finishing off her cigarette.

"Like one isn't bad enough."

Russell blinked a few times before feeling laughter bubble up in his gut. But from being the laid-back guy he was, he only chuckled lightly and said sarcastically, "Hell, Ciagan would make a meal out of 'em."

His little sister glared at him before replying hotly, "Did you just call me a baby-eater?"

"Oh, right, my bad." Russell said mockingly as he grabbed a glass out of the cabinet next to Ciagan's head and set it on the kitchen table. "I remember you telling me kids between the ages of 6 and 8 are your favorite. Babies give you indigestion."

Ciagan couldn't help but grin at his statement. "You sarcastic bastard."

"Hey!" He snapped, putting the carton of orange juice he got out of the fridge down to point a finger at her accusingly. "Better get used to watching your mouth, little lady. Don't want to add colorful new words to the kids' vocabulary, now do we?"

Clenching her teeth to where her jaw throbbed, she sent a glare his way that could've given the Human Torch frostbite, but didn't say anything. Back in Tokyo, she would've clobbered his ass thanks to her temper. _Consider yourself lucky_, she mentally threatened.

"Actually, he's right." Irma said, obviously amused at the siblings' banter.

"Hey, you got me into this mess. And why the hell do you want me babysitting of all things?" Ciagan growled as she shot her grandmother an annoyed glance.

Irma got up and started to walk over to the doorway. For her age, she was in pretty good shape. Well, except her smoking habits caused her consistent spells of bronchitis and other breathing problems. But she'd never needed a cane before and could get around smoothly on her own.

"Tell me something I don't know. And you said so yourself that you want to make a fresh start, so here's your chance to give up curb-crawling."

Ciagan frowned at this. Back in Tokyo, that was the best—no, the _only_ way for her and Russell to bring in some cash without stealing. On top of that they were doing the city a favor by taking abandoned objects that were in good shape and putting them in their place at a pawn shop, and getting cash in return. Of course, Irma was right. Scrounging the streets for stuff other people threw out isn't going to be an option when she gets into college in the future. Might as well try something else, right?

"You need to be over at their house by seven. They'll be back around nine to nine-thirty. Russell, if you don't mind would you take her there and pick her up later on tonight?" Irma continued, turning her steely grey eyes to the man of the house.

Ciagan was about to ask her for directions to the house when Russell beat her to it. "Sure, but where's this place at?"

Irma pointed a bony finger at a piece of paper lying on the kitchen table, among all sorts of things from photos and business papers. "Directions are right there. It's only about two blocks away."

"Well, if it's that close why can't I just run there?"

"Because you stick to high heaven when you do. The last thing I need is someone accusing you of putting stink bombs in their house."

Ciagan frowned while Russell nearly choked on his orange juice. He turned to her with a wide grin and said, "She's right, you know."

Rolling her eyes, the grey-eyed _traceuse_ followed her grandmother out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs, leaving Russell in the kitchen as she went to her room.

The walls were painted electric blue with posters of her favorite bands all over one wall, ranging from Naked Raven to Lostprophets. Ciagan kept the wall across from it white and let Russell have it as his massive canvas where he used his incredible artistic talent to paint a wide variety of fantasy creatures: a purple dragon, a green unicorn, a Youkai spirit coming out of a small patch of clouds with a pearl in each hand, and her all-time favorite, a griffon that was half-cheetah, half-falcon, stalking a pink and purple polka-dotted mouse in a meadow. There was no doubt in her mind that big-shot artists would hang their heads in shame after seeing his creations.

A set of dark blue drums sat in the middle of her room, which she had to keep dusted off constantly at the lack of a window. Her stereo system was placed on the dresser to the right, and her bed to the left. The blankets were blue with wolf designs scattered across it, and the wall surrounding the bed had random pieces of poems that suddenly hit her out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Being an insomniac, sleep was practically impossible for someone as restless as her.

Since the air conditioner was busted upstairs, she kept the window open and the ceiling fan running all summer long. While it kept her room relatively comfortable, she always had problems with squirrels and spiders because of the tree that stood right out her window with its branches literally reaching inside of her room. The tree was also a great way to sneak out whenever there was a late night party going on.

As Ciagan pulled her shirt off she threw it into the floor carelessly, thanks to her slobbish habits. She was about to make her way to the bathroom right across the hallway from her room, wearing nothing but jeans and a bra, when she stopped at the full-body mirror on her door. Her gaze went straight to her grey eyes, the same ones her mother, Irma, Irma's mother, and Irma's grandmother had.

Ciagan's mahogany hair was from her mother as well, though their styles were completely different. Her mother wore hers long down to the small of her back, while Ciagan kept hers short and in a shaggy-like style with swept aside bangs. She thought it looked good, despite her mother's constant encouragement to let it grow out. But long hair would just be a nuisance when she decided to practice _parkour_, which was something her mother couldn't understand.

Because of the constant running and physical training she had to go through, Ciagan's body was well built and had signs of well-developed muscle underneath her lightly tanned skin. Fortunately, even at age seventeen her breasts were barely developed, which happened to be a trait among the females of her family as well. Boobs would have been a problem for her _parkour_ training too. People often mistook her for a boy between the clothes and haircut if they didn't take notice of her feminine face and midsection curves. Her choice in clothing didn't help that cause out too much as she often had the tendency to wear more of Russell's clothing than her own.

Since she ran on the sidelines with a gang for several years, piercings and tattoos were practically inevitable on her part. All of her piercings were silver, with a small round stud in her nose, four piercings on each ear, and one in her left eyebrow. Even when she was a kid, she'd always had an interest in tribal shapes. She got Russell to sketch her out a few really cool designs, and eventually convinced one of the guy's dad who owned a tattoo shop to put them on her. They were both very simple and completely black, but to her they were awesome. One came from the right side of her neck, curved across her chest, and stopped at her ribcage. The other was stretched out across her shoulder blades, resembling a mixture of claws and thorns. They both hurt like a bitch when she first got them done, but looked really, really cool when it was over with.

But the one that she treasured the most was the palm-sized kanji on her left shoulder. There were two characters, and were dwarfed when compared to the other tattoos she had. Literally, the two symbols meant 'beyond the heavens,' or 'the farthest regions.'

"You okay?" Russell asked from the hallway, breaking her out of her thoughts. He was leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed as he watched her watch herself. She simply looked at him and gave a small smile. They'd never been shy around each other, especially since they used to take baths together when they lived back in Tokyo.

_Back when Lennox was still around._

As if reading her thoughts, he raised an eyebrow and said quietly, "You miss him."

Automatically her hand came to the silver chain still clasped around her neck, somewhat surprised to find how warm it was. Well, considering how she couldn't remember the last time she took it off, it was no wonder.

Her reaction was the best answer Russell could've gotten. "Don't wallow in it, Ciagan. It's the last thing he'd want for you, for either of us." And with that he turned and walked into his room.

A few seconds later, the guitar Russell was trying to learn to play produced off-key notes, but it was soothing nonetheless because it was _him_ playing it. With one last glance at her reflection she turned away to go take a shower.

* * *

"You hired _who_ to watch the kids?!" Saburo all but shouted, winning him the attention of their two young children who froze instantly. He forced a reassuring smile on his face as he turned to them, their chocolate brown eyes widened at his sudden outburst.

Before he could speak, Chiya, their mother, beat him to it. "It's nothing kids, everything's alright!" With that she shut the door leading to the kitchen so she and her husband could speak without the kids overhearing.

"No, everything is _not_ alright." Saburo hissed. "You're letting a punk in the house, and letting him watch the kids, no less!"

Chiya regarded him with an annoyed gaze. "For your information, she's a girl."

"It doesn't matter! She's still a punk."

She crossed her arms over her chest before giving an exasperated sigh. "Honey, I talked with Irma and from what she's told me the only thing 'strange' about her is the way she dresses, which is rather mild when you compare it to other kids. Everything else is what you'd expect out of any teenager."

"Well, why can't we take the kids over to your mother's?" Saburo asked, trying every way possible to keep from having a tattooed, pierced, downright _punk_ around the kids.

"You know as well as I do that she doesn't have that kind of energy just after having chemo treatments!" Chiya whispered hotly.

He opened his mouth to say something, but found that there wasn't anything he could say about it, so he snapped it shut.

He didn't miss the triumphant spark in his wife's eyes. "That's what I thought." She commented quietly before walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Toys were scattered _everywhere_, ranging from Barbies to miniature Transformers action figures. The kids were right in the middle of the ocean of plastic and fuzzy objects; the girl was brushing the hair of her doll while the boy played with his fire truck. As soon as their parents stepped out of the kitchen, they turned their attention to them. They knew for a fact that if their dad raised his voice, which is something he rarely ever did, then something was up.

"Ai, Mako," Chiya began, "your father and I are leaving for a few hours tonight, so we got someone to come and watch you while we're gone."

"_You_ got someone," Saburo corrected grudgingly, and she gave him a mild glare.

"Don't start." She warned before turning back to their children. "Anyway, her name is Ciagan and she'll be here pretty soon." Her eyes flicked over to the clock hanging on the wall behind the kids, and realized she and Saburo would have to get going in a few minutes.

She continued, "So, I want you to be really good for her tonight. If she says you guys are good, your father and I will give you two a surprise. Alright?"

"Okay!" The kids chorused brightly, giving their mother smiles before turning back to what they were doing before she interrupted. Chiya smiled back at them before making her way into her and Saburo's bedroom to prepare for the night.

"I hope she's fun," Mako commented as he rolled his bright red fire truck across the floor.

"Yea, me too," his sister agreed. She stopped brushing her doll's blonde hair and glanced up at her brother, her eyes wide with worry as she whispered, "Wait! What about Impmon?"

Mako blinked at her as he whispered back, "What about him?"

"He said no one but us is supposed to know about him. What if the lady finds out?"

He mulled this over for a few seconds before giving her a reassuring smile. "Nah, she won't. He won't let her."

* * *

Russell and Ciagan made it halfway to the address Irma scribbled down for them when Ciagan's cell phone went off with 'Nothin' But a Good Time' by Poison as a ringtone.

"Yo," she greeted after flicking the cherry red Samsung Juke open.

"Yo, yourself," was the cheery reply she got from Nina, the first friend she'd made after both she and Russell moved in with their grandmother.

With a smile Ciagan said, "Hey, I've missed you."

Nina was such a good friend that she didn't say something along the lines of 'But we just saw each other before school.' Instead she just chuckled some and replied, "Yea, me too. But anyway, what're you doing tonight?"

"I'm about to go babysit some kids."

"Wow, that'll be a disaster." The funny part was that Ciagan's blonde-haired friend was absolutely deadpan as she said it.

"Why does everyone think something'll go wrong just because it's me you're talking about?" She asked irritably. After all this time trying to keep on everyone's good side, they always assumed that something bad was going to come out of every situation Ciagan was thrust in.

"Because I just never took you for liking kids. Do you?"

"We'll see. If I don't wind up killing them, then yes, I guess I can like kids."

Nina tried not to snicker at that comment, but wound up doing so anyway. "So who are the poor souls doomed to spend the evening with you?"

"Ignoring that. But seriously, the kid's names are Ai and Mako, and their parents are Chiyo and Sabura."

Russell gave an amused snort before correcting his sister, "Its _Chiya_ and _Saburo_, dingbat."

"Oh, my bad. It's _Chiya_ and _Saburo_." Ciagan said exasperatingly just to poke fun at Russell.

"What, seriously?" Nina replied in surprise. "You're watching my little cousins, Ciagan."

Looking out the window to check out the neighborhood as they neared the house, she instinctively began scoping out any good spots to practice her _parkour_. Most of them had either chain link or wooden fences, which got pretty boring to hop over after the first five. Other than that, no luck."Oh, really?"

"Yep, sure are."

"Huh, that's weird."

"But you like weird."

"Certain degrees of weirdness, yes. Okay I've got to go; we just pulled into the driveway."

"Wait, Ciagan!" Nina said quickly before she had a chance to hang up. "There's something I've got to warn you about before you go in there tonight."

Not liking the suspicious tone in her friend's voice, Ciagan narrowed her eyes at the house instantly. "What is it?"

"It's haunted." She whispered, and Ciagan immediately took it as a joke.

"Thanks for the tip," she said sarcastically.

"No, seriously!" Nina nearly shouted which was something she did when she wanted to get her point across to someone who didn't buy what she was saying. Someone like Ciagan. "I babysat them about a month ago. It was weird, Ciagan. There were these weird noises on the roof, and freaky purple blurs out in the backyard. Weirdest of all food started disappearing randomly and the kids were acting weird."

"It was probably the kids grabbing snacks behind your back."

"But they were in my sight the whole time!" Nina continued. "And you get this weird feeling, like you're being watched by someone that doesn't really want you there. It's just really…weird."

"You said 'weird' about five times." Ciagan replied calmly, purposely changing the subject to get on her friend's nerves.

It worked too, because she said in an aggravated tone, "Thanks for the status report, Sarge."

"Don't mention it. But seriously, I highly doubt that there's a ghost floating around in there. It's probably squirrels running across the roof or—"

"Hey!" Russell snapped from the driver's seat. "Are you leaving sometime this century or what?"

"Fine, fine! Damn, never knew you hated my company so much." Ciagan grumbled wryly as she climbed out of the car. "Okay Nina, I've gotta run."

"Alright. Maybe we can do something next Friday?"

Ciagan gave a short wave to Russell as he pulled out of the driveway and took off down the street. Turning to the house and making her way towards it, she replied, "Can't, Danny's throwing a party that night. Unless you want to go with me?"

Nina paused for a second before asking skeptically, "Will there be drugs and alcohol present?"

"I don't know about the drugs, but with Danny you never know. I'm definitely bringing some beer, though."

"No way am I going." Nina said simply. Ciagan didn't even bother trying to persuade her into going, knowing that 1) it'd never work, and 2) she wouldn't want her friend risking her entire future just for some stupid party. If her parents _ever_ found out that she'd consumed one drop of alcohol, they'd kick her out for sure.

"Okay. We'll figure something out."

"Yep. Later."

"See ya." With that she closed her phone, shoved it back into her pocket, and started to knock on the door when something stopped her. It was a weird feeling, like someone was behind her.

Whirling around, she suddenly felt stupid for freaking out when she didn't see anyone nearby. _Damn it, Nina! You got me feeling it, too._

"I'm going crazy." She murmured before turning back around, knocking her knuckles once against the door—which was rather soft for a door, and had some nice clothes, too. It wore a white dress shirt, red tie, black pants, and shiny black shoes that would blind you if you stared at them too long. Not your average door.

"Looks to me like you already have." A man who she guessed was Saburo said with all the seriousness in the world as he looked her up and down.

This was funny because she had toned her punk and tomboy level way down for the night. She wore a grey tank top that actually fit her with 'Nickelback' written in white across the chest, one of Russell's old blue and white plaid button up shirts that was just a little big on her, and the only pair of jeans she had that wasn't ripped from her _parkour_ sessions which were actual girl pants instead of the baggy ones; the kind that hugged her figure and drove her _up _a _fucking wall_. The only shoes she had that even remotely matched her outfit were her pair of black Vans. She took her nose piercing out, and had one medium sized hoop for each ear.

Stifling her annoyance at the comment, Ciagan whipped her arm back to her side and gave the man what she hoped was a friendly smile instead of an irritated snarl.

"Hey. Uh, so, you guys need me to watch some kids?"

"Sure do, honey." Chiya said as she came around Saburo, fixing an earring as she smiled. She wore a dark blue dress and had on a silver necklace with a sky blue gem as the pendant. _You could never tell she had kids,_ Ciagan thought as she noticed her slender form. "I take it you're Ciagan McCormick?"

Returning the smile whole-heartedly, Ciagan nodded. "That's me. If you don't mind me asking, how'd you know my grandma?"

Once she finally got her earring in, she looked Ciagan over the same way Saburo did, just without the outright disapproval. She wasn't sure whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing. Good because she liked it when people didn't judge her by her boyish appearance; bad because Chiya might call her in the future to babysit again.

"I met her in the park one day by accident. We just talked and…well, talked." Ciagan nodded, understanding completely. That's exactly how she and Nina met.

"Mommy! Mommy!" A voice called out from behind them, and both Chiya and Saburo turned and gave Ciagan a good view of them. One was a girl with brown hair pulled up in two pigtails, held together by pink hair bows that matched the shade of her dress. She had a round face, as most children do, and big, chocolate brown eyes that held all of the innocence in the world. The boy had the same shade of eyes as her, but his hair was a ruffled mess on top of his head. He wore a blue shirt with a rocket ship on the front, and beat up jeans.

_Huh, they could pass off as twins_, Ciagan thought as she watched them run towards their parents.

In the boy's left hand was a miniature action figure of Bumblebee off of Transformers, and in the right was the arm of said action figure.

"Daddy! Bee's arm popped off!" The boy said as he held both parts of the toy up to Saburo.

"Mako broke it again." The girl commented innocently from behind her brother.

The boy, Mako, shot a glare at his sister and retorted, "Did not! It keeps popping off!"

"Alright, alright. No fighting." Saburo said as he took the neon yellow object and studied it for a moment as Chiya went back inside the house. "Hmm," he said after a moment of surveying the damage, "looks like I can take super glue to it. That should make it better."

"No, actually, it won't." Ciagan piped up. Both the children and Saburo looked at her, distrust still evident in the father's eyes.

"If you glue it, then the arm can't rotate."

Saburo blinked before raising an eyebrow. "Well then, Miss McCormick, what do you suggest we should do?"

Ciagan gave a one shouldered shrug. "My older brother collects those kinds of figures. When he comes by to pick me up later, I'll get him to look at it."

"So, he can fix Bee?" Mako asked hopefully, and Ciagan grinned lightly down at him.

"He'd better, or else Bee can't save the world from Megatron. Right?"

The boy gave her a bright smile before replying enthusiastically, "Right!"

"See, I told you she'd be fun." He said to his sister as he turned on his heel to run back in the house.

As they went Ciagan heard the girl reply, "Did not!"

_That was…weird,_ she thought as Chiya came back out with her purse.

"Okay, I think we're set to go, honey." She said, pecking her husband in the cheek. Turning to Ciagan, she said seriously, "There's some leftover chicken in the fridge, with a bunch of stuff you can make for dinner. Their bedtime is eight thirty, but since it's the weekend you can wait until they doze off playing if you want."

Ciagan nodded, and Chiya pulled out a slip of paper out of her purse and handed it to her. "Here's our cell phone numbers. The first one is Saburo's, the second is mine. We'll have them on the entire time, so call if you need anything."

"Got it," Ciagan said as she stuck the paper in her pocket. She flinched slightly as her fingertips brushed against her knife. _Crap, I thought I left it home, _she thought.

"We'll be back around nine or so. Good luck!" Chiya said as she and Saburo climbed into their car, and Ciagan waved them off as they went.

She scratched the back of her head, mulling the situation over before walking back into the house. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Yea, right.

Not if the green-eyed purple demon on top of the roof, who'd been eavesdropping the entire time, had anything to say about it. There were countless scenarios playing in his head, every one of them concerning the way too familiar mahogany-haired, grey-eyed, flat chested teen that would be babysitting his Tamers tonight, and all of them had the same theme.

_Revenge_.

He gave a wicked grin, the tip of a fang peeking out from underneath his lips.

This was going to be one helluva night.

* * *

Author's Notes:

…Wow. I just started this story about 3 days ago, and already have nearly 35 pages on MS Office. Hell, this chapter alone was 24 pages! I don't know what happened, though. It started off as an experiment revolving around parkour, and then it just morphed into this. And the weird part is it won't stop writing itself until I literally fall asleep on the keyboard.

From the rate I'm going, the second chapter should be out early next week. Yay!

Also, there's a button down there called 'Review.' Use it!


	2. Then: Gunshot to My Sanity

**Warnings: **Lots of cussing in this one. And even _more_ violence and tension between Impmon and Ciagan.

**Author's Note: **This chapter was so, _so_ much fun to write! Also for those who sent anonymous reviews for the last chapter, I've put my responses down at the very bottom of this page. I'm pretty sure I replied to the signed ones, but if I didn't I'm really sorry. Things have been hectic lately.

**Then: Gunshot to My Sanity**

Russell, who was leaning back against the kitchen counter and staring at nothing in particular, took three gulps out of his glass of orange juice before asking Irma, "You sure that was a good idea?"

"What?" The old woman glanced up from the newspaper with a cigarette between her lips.

He jerked his thumb at the door. "Sending Ciagan to go watch a couple of brats. You sure that was a smart move?"

Setting her steely-gray gaze back at the paper in her hands, she replied, "Ciagan's a smart girl. She can handle it."

"I'm not worried about her. I'm worried about the kids."

Taking her cigarette between two bony fingers, she exhaled a plume of smoke before saying, "Everything'll be alright."

Russell raised an eyebrow. "And you know this from your psychic ability, huh?"

Irma gave him a slow grin, her eyes taking on the glint that she knew way too much than what she was supposed to. "Precisely."

"I dunno," Russell said as he walked back into the living room, shaking his head. "I'm still worried about it."

Her grin widened before she muttered to herself with all the certainty in the world, "There's no need to be."

* * *

"Christ! Just how hard is it to make some freaking sandwiches without burning the hell out of them?" Ciagan grumbled under her breath, careful to keep her cursing to a minimum as she was well aware of the kids right outside the door. Around eight o'clock both Ai and Mako claimed that they were hungry and wanted grilled cheese sandwiches, and fifteen minutes later Ciagan nearly burned the house down because the toaster started to spit flames from hell.

Standing out on the back door she chunked the remains of a failed attempt of a grilled sandwich to the dog hooked up in the backyard. The little brown pooch gave them one sniff, whimpered, and walked right back into its doghouse with its tail between its legs.

"Oh, _that's_ encouraging."

She went back into the kitchen to find Ai standing at the doorway holding a red and blue ball in her hands. "What's up, kiddo?"

The girl's face scrunched up unpleasantly as she asked, "Why's it stinky in here?"

Jokingly Ciagan replied, "That's what happens when you try to get me to cook anything. Even with a toaster." She wiped a bead of sweat off of her face with her palm, only for Ai to giggle at her.

"What?"

Tucking the ball under an arm, Ai pointed a finger straight at Ciagan's face. "You've got black stuff on you." She said simply.

All Ciagan had to do was check her hand and see the soot clinging to her skin to understand the toddler's words.

"Great. Just what I need." She murmured before putting the plate that once held the burnt bread in the trash. It took a little scrubbing for the black mess to come off, and in the meantime Mako poked his head through the kitchen door.

"Is supper ready?" He asked.

Ciagan shook her head as she dried her hands off with a paper towel. "No, I burned it." Pausing for a second to think, she decided to try out every babysitter's last resort. "You guys like pizza?"

Both of them nodded, which relieved Ciagan. She didn't want to take another chance with setting the house ablaze just from using the damned toaster, microwave, or anything that's got the potential to spit hellfire. "Cool. Cheese or pepperoni?"

"Cheese!" "Pepperoni!" They both said at the same time, which followed up with a heated argument between the two over which one they should get.

"Hey!" Ciagan thundered over them, and they both shut their traps and watched as she pulled out a small wad of cash from her pocket. After counting it all up, she told them calmly, "I've got enough to get both. So just chill, 'kay?"

Ai and Mako both nodded. "Good. Go ahead and start up the Playstation while I get it."

Fumbling through her pocket to get her cell phone, she was surprised when it suddenly started singing, "Don't need nothin', but a good time! How can I resist?" as soon as her fingers brushed over it.

_Wow, good timing, _she thought as she checked who it was. The caller ID had 'Derek' and a picture of her brown-haired blue-eyed goofball of a friend on the color screen. After a month of knowing Nina, Ciagan came to one of his parties after stumbling across it while practicing _parkour_. All of the cars surrounding the house and the blaring music attracted Ciagan like a moth to fire. It was going good, until Derek made the mistake of coming onto her while in his drunken stupor, which nearly won him a broken nose. Ever since then he never made that error again but they became friends regardless.

"Hey man," she greeted after flicking her Samsung Juke open.

"Well well, if it isn't my favorite girlfriend in the world!" Was the joyful reply Ciagan got from him. Judging from his tone, she guessed he was probably recovering from a joint he'd had earlier in the day.

She rolled her eyes before searching the kitchen for a phone book. "Alright dude, first off, I wouldn't go out with you if my life depended on it. And two, what do you want this time?"

"Why'd you say that?" He asked, feigning innocence.

"Because a romantic relationship with you is a death warrant, and you only suck up to me when you want something. I know you too well."

Realizing he'd been foiled from the start, Derek asked her curiously, "How much money do you have?"

"I've got about twenty-something, but I'm blowing half of it on pizza. Why?" She asked suspiciously as she finally found the phonebook tucked away in a drawer next to the stove.

"Crap, only that much? You know you've got to bring your own beer to my place next week, right?"

Ciagan replied as she started flipping through the pages with her phone pressed between her cheek and shoulder, "I know, I know! But I'm going to get paid tonight as soon as I get done watching the kids. On top of that I'm starting my job at the gas station here soon. By then I'll have enough to get some."

There was a pause on the other end of the line before Derek started yelling, forcing Ciagan to wince and hold the phone a few inches away from her ear."_Kids_? What the hell Ciagan, I never knew you had _kids_! Shit, I never even knew you were _dating_ someone!"

Her eyes widened at his words. "Wha—?!No, they're not mine! Gamma got me babysitting some woman's kids tonight. And what are you even calling me for?"

"Jesus Christ, I bet that'll be a wreck. Oh, right! Well there's this guy that's got some crack that he's selling half price, but I don't have enough—"

"Whoa, hold up! No way in hell am I helping you get your hands on that crap."

"What?" was her friend's pitiful reply. "But why, girl? I thought you were my friend."

"Trust me, I'm doing you a favor. Do you remember my uncle Jim?"

Derek thought about it for a second before answering, "Yea, you mentioned him a while back. You said he died or something. Why, what happened to him?"

"_Crack_ happened. And he died a _very_ slow and _very_ painful death."

The blue-eyed boy bought it as he answered meekly, "Oh."

"Yea. I'll do beer with you occasionally, but if you so much as touch cocaine you and I are done. I won't watch you go down like that."

"But what about that promise ring you gave me?" Derek asked teasingly.

Ciagan couldn't help but grin and blush furiously at the memory. It was only the fifth time in her life that she'd ever gotten truly hammered from alcohol, and she 'married' herself to Derek, who was high, that night by slapping a bottle opener on his thumb. "For god's sake, that wasn't a promise ring! And on top of that we were all drunk as hell."

"True, but I still said yes! Therefore we've been together…oh, what, two and a half years or so?"

"In your dreams, dude. Now hang up, I've got pizza to order for the kids."

Derek snickered. "Aw, aren't you sweet."

Her face turned a darker shade of red. "Shut up, Derek."

"Seriously, I bet you'd make a great mom, Ciagan! Maybe you should—"

"_Seriously_, I'm not taking advice from a pothead like you. And I'm not giving you any money, so forget it."

Her friend gave a chuckle. "Alright, be that way. Are you swinging by here later tonight?"

"Definitely. I've got a feeling that after this I'll need a nice cold beer at your place."

Laughing, Derek replied, "I'll bet. So, should I wear something nice for our second wedding?"

She couldn't help but snicker lightly at his comment. "Ignoring that. And I said _one_ beer, not fifty. 'Night." With that Ciagan pressed the 'end' button with her thumb, and proceeded to dial in the pizza joint's number. She paused before she could punch in the last digit as she felt that feeling again. Like she was being watched.

Whirling around to face the kitchen window, she expected to see someone standing there, like a creepy man with small beady black eyes and the face of a pit-bull, but when there wasn't anything she shrugged it off and turned away.

* * *

Well, it was obvious.

Impmon was stuck.

He'd waited a good part of an hour to see if he could snag an opportunity to get back at the human girl for their little 'encounter' at the park, but so far no luck. She was too close to the kids most of the time for him to do any serious damage to her. Either that or whenever she went around the house, one or both of the kids followed, and the last thing he wanted was to get his revenge with Ai and Mako watching. Ever since he became their Partner he'd become something of a big brother figure to them, and he highly doubted that setting their babysitter's ass, hair, or both on fire would look good in their eyes.

So here he was, perched carefully on the sill of the window of Ai and Mako's room, watching as the mahogany-haired teen watched the kids play with their toys. Thankfully enough she was a better babysitter than he'd expected, except for that little fiasco with the toaster nearly fifteen minutes ago. Of course, he didn't have much room to judge since she knocked him senseless when they first 'met.' She was a lot more laid back compared to the last babysitter that came around nearly a month ago, as the blonde haired girl would _not_ stop running around the house like a chicken with her head cut off.

As he watched them, he also noticed that she was a lot different than most human females. Her clothes looked like they belonged to a guy, and while her hair was clean it was slightly wild. Even from all the way across the room he could tell she had some muscle tone going on, possibly a result of whatever the hell she was doing in the park earlier today. He also noticed that most females her age had chests that looked like an explosion went off inside of them, but she didn't. On top of that the absolute _last_ thing he expected out of _any_ female, except Rika or Renamon, was a punch in the face.

A delighted yelp from behind made Impmon jump in surprise, though he relaxed when he saw that it was just the little brown dog, wagging his tail and standing as close to Impmon's position as his chain would allow.

He flinched when the canine barked again, and hissed irritably, "Shhh! Dammit, can't ya tell when someone's tryin' to spy around here? I thought dogs were supposed to be smart!"

When the little animal barked the third time, Impmon sighed and held his hand up. "Sorry, pooch." With that he snapped his fingers and created a small column of fire in the space above them.

From past experience, the dog's mind put two and two together and immediately ran back inside his doghouse. Not exactly satisfied with the little canine's reaction, but glad that he wasn't making any more racket, Impmon turned his attention back to his Tamers and their dead-babysitter-walking.

He was surprised that she wasn't in the same spot anymore, and after glancing around the room he was horrified to find that she'd slipped out of his sight completely. The purple Digimon jumped up and hoisted himself onto the roof gracefully.

Glancing around to make sure he was alone, save for the dog peeking out of his house warily at him, Impmon made his way over to the part of the roof where the light from the kitchen was coming from. Jumping over onto the dogwood tree that was growing right next to the window, he was given a perfect vantage point of the room. He grinned when he saw the grey-eyed teen entering the kitchen, temporarily isolated from the kids.

Now was his chance.

* * *

After ordering the pizza and watching Ai and Mako go at it on Crash Team Racing, Ciagan's cell phone went off with several high pitched jingles. It was a text message from Nina.

Flicking it open, the message read, /_How's it going_?/

Smiling, Ciagan typed in with one thumb, /_Going good. Kids are nice. No ghost yet_./

It took a few moments for her friend's reply to come in. /_Just wait, it'll come_./

"Sure," Ciagan muttered, but before she could type in a response another message popped on screen.

/_Try Chiya's tea. It's to die for_!/ Followed by a little smiley face made up of an equal sign and a capital 'd.'

Lifting an eyebrow, she typed in, /_Sugar_?/

She could imagine Nina's laugh at her question, and how she would wonder why she's friends with such a health nut. /_Loaded with it_./

"Damn," Ciagan muttered, and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. Glancing up at the kids she was relieved that they hadn't heard her little slip up. _Way to go, dumbass, _she thought to herself before making her way into the kitchen.

From the corner between the hallway and the kitchen, Impmon heard the refrigerator door being closed and a soft 'thump' as a glass was set on the counter. Peering out as sneakily as possible, he smirked when he saw the girl had her back to him.

_Perfect_, he thought, taking a step in her direction as she poured out the last of the tea into her cup.

Unfortunately because of the weird angle he was approaching the teen from around the corner, the toes of his left foot hung on his right ankle. His momentum caused his body to move forward, which made him lose his balance and came down on the floor. Crash and burn just got a whole new definition.

He heard the girl gasp, and quickly pushed himself off the floor in time to see her whirl around in his direction, her left hand flying into her pocket to grip the object nestled in it out of instinct. Hurriedly Impmon got back on his feet and glared at the girl as if she were the one who caused him to trip.

Ciagan blinked a few times before her surprise morphed into neutrality, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her back on him and put the empty jug in the sink, and then turned back around to narrow her eyes at him.

"So, what, you're a stalker now?"

Impmon sneered. "Like you're worth stalkin'."

For the next few seconds they stood there glaring at each other, before Impmon crossed his arms over his chest, cat-like green eyes boring into Ciagan's. "Well?" he growled.

Ciagan raised an eyebrow before mimicking him, folding her arms loosely over her chest and leaning back against the kitchen counter. "Well, _what_?" she said mockingly with a grin.

Anger boiled the little demon's blood, his glare intensifying. "Don't ya have somethin' to say to me, punk?"

Ciagan couldn't help herself as she gave a grin that could've split her face in two without the reassurance of the laws of physics.

"Oh, you mean something along the lines of 'get the hell out of my way so I can do my job?'"

Impmon blinked a few times before he realized that, yet again, the human did the complete opposite of what he expected her to do. As he let loose an outraged growl, it erupted into a snarl as he saw the triumph in her grey eyes.

"You freakin' punk!" he snarled, stomping his foot frustratingly. "How about apologizin' for what you did to me?"

Ciagan's jaw clenched before she shot back, "_You_ scared the hell out of _me_. _I_ punched the crap out of _you_, so really, we're even."

"No we're not!" Impmon disagreed hotly. "I wasn't gonna hurt ya or anythin', so—"

"Perhaps, but I didn't know that. Hell, you could've been a frail old man and I'd _still_ clock you for jumping me!"

He glared at her a few seconds, trying to find the right words, before settling on, "Whatever. You still owe me, punk."

"Not a chance, pipsqueak."

Impmon's hands clenched into tight fists before biting out angrily, "_Don't_. Call. Me. Pipsqueak!"

Ciagan, unfazed by his temper, gave a one shouldered shrug before turning her back on him and started to take a little swig out of her tea. Unfortunately there was only enough left to fill up a quarter of her glass, but it'd do. As she lifted the glass to her mouth, she muttered lightly, "Whatever, pip—"

Before she could finish the insult, there was a strange gleam of light reflecting off of the metal of the sink, and she couldn't will herself to turn around. Her hand with the glass froze, the cup's rim a few inches away from her mouth.

"—squeak?"

A little voice in her head was screaming that the situation had taken a wrong turn as an unfamiliar hand propped itself against the counter beside her. Her grey eyes widened with surprise as she saw that the appendage was black leather clad with wicked metallic claws.

Out of reflex, Ciagan stepped back with the grace of a two-year-old, her glass of tea clutched to her chest.

Which turned out to be a really stupid move as a hand grabbed her forearm roughly, and her back came in contact with a solid object that turned out to be a chest. Looking up, Ciagan's eyes locked with three oddly familiar green ones, shadowed by the dark purple helmet the guy wore yet gleaming with mischief, looking down at her accompanied with a smug smirk plastered on his pale face.

"Now who's the pipsqueak?"

_Holy shit, _Ciagan thought in well-contained horror. This guy was _huge_ as _hell_ compared to her!

"How'd you do that?" she asked, unsuccessfully masking her shock.

He rolled his eyes and said, "I'm a Digimon, dimwit. Digivolvin' is jus' somethin' we do." He gave a one shouldered shrug like it wasn't a big deal.

But for Ciagan, it was a biiiiiiig damn deal.

"So, you're still…you?"

The demon gave a grin, while Ciagan tried not to shudder as the tip of a fang peeked out from under a pale lip. "Pretty much. Not so tough now that I'm like this, huh?"

_Oh hell no, I'm as good as dead, thanks for asking_, she thought to herself, resisting the urge to gulp. Deciding quickly that fighting back was her best chance than letting this guy have his 'revenge,' she immediately thanked god that she'd forgotten to leave her knife at home.

"You must not know me too well, dude. Even if you're this size, I can still take you."

Ciagan felt his chest rumble from behind her as he gave a low chuckle. He gave her a smirk that was way, _way_ too wicked for comfort.

"You gotta be kiddin' me. How do ya plan on doin' that?"

Her fingers reflexively tightened on her glass of tea as she gathered all of the bravery, insanity, and stupidity she needed to pull her plan off, and declared, "Like this!"

As quick as she could she jerked her arm with the glass in hand up over her head, sending the contents of the glass right into his face. The guy cursed loudly, obviously not expecting this kind of retaliation on her part, and she felt some of the tea splash into her hair, but ignored it. Dropping the glass Ciagan whirled around as soon as his grip on her arm loosened.

All those years of being tutored by the guys in the gang on how to take someone bigger than her down took over her mind like natural instinct. With her blade in her left and dominant hand she flicked it open as she ran straight at the demon, ramming her shoulder into the space between his ribcages. Even though she didn't hear him lose his breath from her lack of power behind the strike, he still went down onto the kitchen floor with her on top thanks to his own momentum.

* * *

"Hey, you cheated!" Ai said accusingly as she tried her best to catch up with her brother on the game. Which was tough, because every time she'd get behind him his little polar bear driving a blue race cart would throw a glass full of green stuff, causing her to hit it every time. When she hit the glasses it made her tiger's purple cart spin around uncontrollably, widening the distance from her cart to his.

Mako gave a smug smile before replying, "Did not."

Just as Ai finally figured out how to dodge those damned beakers and finally gained some ground against Mako, they jumped upon hearing a familiar yell coming from the kitchen, followed by a loud 'thwump' that rattled the house.

They both exchanged horrified glances before exclaiming simultaneously, "Oh, no!"

* * *

Ciagan positioned herself where her blade hovered dangerously above his neck. Had he been a normal human she could've pinned his arms above his head, but she didn't count on them being as long as they were, or that the guy had huge black wings that were splayed out behind him. On top of that, she doubted it would've mattered judging from the muscles caged tightly in the black leather. He could easily whip her ass, or kill her without breaking a sweat if he wanted to.

And judging from the rage in his eyes, he wanted to tear her _limb_ from fucking _limb_.

Thankfully the blade barely half a millimeter from his throat kept him from doing so.

Young voices shouted in surprise at the racket coming from the kitchen and the door burst open. But Ciagan didn't take her eyes off of the guy beneath her until the children both shouted in shock, "Impmon!"

Face still covered in tea, the biker demon turned his head and threw an annoyed look their way as he tried to wipe the drink out of his eyes with his right hand, ignoring the blade at his throat. "How many times do I have to say it? I'm _Beelzebumon_, not Impmon!"

Ciagan blinked, all the ferocity on her face vanished as she turned to the kids, asking, "You know this guy?"

They nodded anxiously at the same time. Mako yelled, "He's our friend!" While Ai followed up with, "Please don't hurt him!"

_Hurt _him_? How the hell could I_—she started to think, until her gaze went back to the knife in her hand.

_Oh, right_.

As fast as she could without slicing herself on accident, which happened many times before, she flicked the blade closed and shoved it back into her pocket. Sitting up, she turned her attention to the demon. "You really know them?" She asked, jerking her thumb at the kids.

While some of his anger had vanished when the kids came into the picture, Beelzebumon still regarded Ciagan with a hard glare. Of course, she really couldn't blame him. After being punched in the nose, repeatedly insulted, tea thrown all in his face, and tackled onto the ground with a knife at his throat all in one day, she was surprised he hadn't killed her at this point. Propping himself up on his elbows, he replied, "Yea, I do." Turning back to the kids who had confused as hell expressions on their faces he said, "You guys go back an' keep playin', 'kay?"

The two exchanged worried glances before Ai asked, "What're you guys doing?"

Now it was Beelzebumon and Ciagan's turn to glance at each other. How the heck were you supposed to tell a kid that you were trying to protect them from their own friend out of your own ignorance? Sure she could plan ahead in physical disputes out of pure instinct, but she was screwed when it came to saying the right thing when caught off-guard. In the end Ciagan spoke up, "He scared me, so I…scared him back?"

"You're not gonna hurt him, are you?" Mako asked, and the way he spoke made Ciagan flinch inside. She suddenly felt horrible, because here she was in West Shinjuku looking for another life, and she goes and nearly beheads a guy…demon, digidude, whatever the hell he called himself earlier.

Ciagan was about to speak when Beelzebumon cut her off by saying nonchalantly, "Nah, we were jus' playin' around."

Nodding, she added reassuringly, "Yea, we're just…" she took a second to find the right words, and she settled on reaching over and gingerly patting the top of the dark purple helmet Beelzebumon wore, which was sticky with tea like he was a puppy before saying, "…having fun!"

The two siblings blinked before they smiled at Ciagan's friendly gesture to the demon biker. She wished she could've said the same for him, but he glared at her with an almost-snarling frown instead. Out of her peripheral vision she saw his clawed hands clench into fists and knew it was taking all he had not to clock her right there in front of the children.

"Okay!" They said happily, buying it as they turned to walk back off into their room. As soon as Ciagan let out a sigh of relief, Ai's head popped back in as she said cheerily, "Oh, Ciagan! Play nice with Impmon. He likes nice."

_I bet he does_, Ciagan thought wryly. "Okay, I will." The little girl's smile widened before disappearing again.

Turning her attention to Beelzebumon, who she still had pinned at the hips, she nearly flinched when she noticed his expression; if it weren't for the kids in the house, she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd strangled the crap out of her right then and there.

"You 'scared me back?' We're 'jus' havin' fun?' Damn, that's lame!"

Ciagan glared at him. "Well sorry for them catching me off-guard in the middle of killing you."

He gave an amused snort. "Whatever. You couldn't kill me if ya wanted to. Now would ya mind gettin' off of me?"

She gave him a wry smirk as she stood up and offered her hand. "Right. And you don't think a knife at your throat is cutting it pretty close, pipsqueak?"

Immediately her smirk fell as a small voice in her head screamed, _You _dumbass_! He's not the cute little demon he was before! You are so—!_

Beelzebumon was nothing more than a black and grey blur as he moved with inhuman speed. The only warning that was processed in Ciagan's mind was a pissed off growl from him before he grabbed her hand, threw her down with enough force for her to grunt, and twisted himself over to where _she_ was on the kitchen floor beneath _him_.

—_screwed!_

With one clawed hand he had both of her wrists pinned above her head, though she refused to submit to the freakish giant.

Glaring, she tried to wrangle her feet out from under him and somehow push him back, or better yet get a clear shot for her knee to his nuts, but all he had to do was lower himself some to keep her from moving as he trapped her down with his hips and legs. As she looked down to see if she could get out of this, there was movement out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a snake at first, but she saw that this guy had a freaking _tail_ that was waving in the air like a cat would who'd just caught a mouse in its paws that was covered in ketchup with a sign around its neck saying 'eat me!'

And aside from noticing the tail, she also noticed the position they were in. She immediately fought down the blush, cursed herself for allowing Russell's stash of porn magazines to turn her into a pseudo-closet pervert, and set her blazing gray eyes on his green, both glaring daggers at each other.

"You never learn, do ya?" He growled from above her, tightening his grip on her wrists when she struggled again.

"Blow it out your ass," she hissed instinctively.

_Shit. So much for playing nice._

He gave a sneer before replying, "You've got one helluva mouth on ya."

Ciagan glared at him. "Thanks for the compliment. Now get off of me!"

She didn't like the grin on his face. _At all_. It screamed trouble, well, at least for her it did.

"And what if I don't wanna?"

"Then I'll scream rape so loud everyone on the damn block will—!"

She swallowed her own words as a clawed hand pressed against her mouth, forcing silence on her part.

"You were sayin'?"

Ciagan's glare spoke volumes for her, but the demon wasn't fazed by it.

As she started to struggle against his grip again, he tightened it even more, and Ciagan eventually stilled underneath him. Not that it hurt or anything, which surprised her because as big and muscled up as he was he could've made it hurt easily, but she figured out that there wasn't anything she could do in this position.

"Now, are ya gonna listen to me or do we have to go at it again for ya to hear me out?"

The lessened anger in her glare was enough of an answer for him.

"It's freakin' obvious that we don't like each other too much so far."

_More like we just shoved a foot up the ass of Niceness_, Ciagan mentally corrected, but she arched an eyebrow at his words.

"I've made plenty of enemies in the past, so what's one more, right?"

She _did not_ like where this was going. Regardless, she did what she was told for once and listened to him.

"But the last thing I wanna do is fight with ya in front of the kids." Had she not known that he actually _did_ know them, she would've laughed in his face after saying that. How could a huge, wicked, freaking badass Digimon care about the mindset of little children?

But he held her gaze, and she knew he was dead serious about the whole thing.

"So, are ya willin' to call a truce for the rest of the night? If not, I'll take my bike and scram before I wind up scarin' the kids 'cause of you, and I'll come back as soon as ya leave. Which is it?"

With that, Beelzebumon lifted his hand off of her mouth. Hesitating for a second, she finally said calmly, "Dude, I'm not kicking you out of your own house. So I'm voting for the truce."

Ciagan could tell by the way his eyes moved that he raised an eyebrow somewhere beneath the helmet. So with an exaggerated sigh, she added, "Sorry for acting like a bitch, but you scared me shitless. Thought you were really going to hurt me…or worse, the kids."

With a reassuring smirk, or what Ciagan hoped was reassuring, he shook his head and said, "Well, you were dead wrong. I'd never lay a hand on 'em."

Smiling, she replied, "Good to know. Now can you get off of me? It's getting really hot down here."

Which was honestly true. Between his body heat and her own body having a natural tendency to bump up her internal temperature a few notches while under anxiety or stress, she was sweating bullets. The smile dropped like a sack of rocks as soon as she got through saying it, though, knowing that he was the kind of guy to take it a whole other way than what she intended. The demon biker couldn't help but grin slyly at her comment.

"Yea, I get that a lot." He said before releasing her wrists and standing up.

_You cocky bastard_, she thought as she moved to get up, but fire shot through her right leg as she did so, causing her to hiss from the pain. Looking down, she saw that there was a rip in her pants going from a few inches down past her knee and half-way down her calf. Through the tear she saw a gash, and blood was leaking out of it. Thankfully it didn't look nor feel too deep.

"Shit," she growled out of frustration. Because of her _parkour_ training she was used to wounds and injuries, so she cursed for the fact that these were her only good pair of jeans that weren't all beat up and didn't hang off of her.

"How the hell did ya—?" Beelzebumon started to say before noticing a thin line of crimson tracing the edge of one of the spikes on his boot.

"Oh. Stay put, I remember seein' some bandages in the bathroom." He said as he started to make his way to the door.

"Don't worry about it." Ciagan said as she went over to the paper towels, ripped two off and used it to soak up the blood. "I'm used to this kind of crap."

Watching her for a second as she held the towel to the cut, he shrugged. "If you say so."

Ciagan shrugged too. "I'm a slow healer, but this stuff happens all the time. You get used to it after a while." For the next few minutes Ciagan watched Beelzebumon out of her peripheral vision as he got himself some Coke out of the fridge. Finally the bleeding stopped, and after throwing the crimson stained towel away she tried to keep from grinning as she thought slyly, _Now where was I? Oh yea_…

Glancing up at the demon who was finishing off his cup, her eyes suddenly widened to the size of saucers as she stared somewhere over the top of his head.

"Whoa, what's that?"

Her surprised tone immediately set him on edge as he stared back at her. "What?"

She pointed at an imaginary object somewhere on the demon's face. "There's something on your head, dude."

"Well what the hell are ya waitin' for? Get it off!" He said with a tense frown.

"Well shit, how am I supposed to do that with you being a walking skyscraper?" Ciagan shot back, and he glared at her for a moment before bending down to where she could reach is face. For her plan to work, she stood on the balls of her feet to get into a good position.

Unfortunately he didn't notice her wicked grin until it was too late.

Before he could react, something really warm and really wet dragged itself across the exposed pale skin of his cheek. He jerked back, bringing a clawed hand over his cheek that was still sticky with tea and slick with something else. Glancing over at Ciagan, he was horrified to see her licking her lips and grinning at him.

"_What_ the _hell_? Did you jus'—?!"

"Yep." Ciagan said as her grin widened. "A friend told me Chiya makes some kickass tea, but I used the last of it on you. Which is probably a good thing; it tastes like it's packed full of sugar." Brushing passed him, she went to pick up the glass she'd dropped and placed it in the sink. She felt his eyes burn a hole in her back and knew he wanted nothing more than to kill her right then and there. Glancing over her shoulder she added sarcastically, "And I bet you get _that_ a lot too, right?"

Believing she'd won, Ciagan took her attention off of him as she started washing the glass under the hot water coming from the faucet. However, letting her guard down was a huge mistake as the demon behind her gave a slow, feline-like grin before following her steps with serpentine grace until he was right behind her. Leaning over until he was on her level, he purred right in her ear, "Y'know, it's rude to leave somethin' ya started unfinished, toots."

The more he spoke the redder Ciagan's face got, but she refused to give into his tactics. Even though his voice sounded a little _too_ nice and his breath felt a little _too_ good on her ear, she wouldn't cave in, despite how her face started to burn. And to make her point, she grabbed her switchblade and brought it back out. Without flicking it open she turned to face him with a challenging smirk and wagged the white weapon in her fingers.

"I'll keep that in mind, big guy. But we've got a truce to keep so unless you want to break it and find your guts all over the floor, it'd be better to leave this shit unfinished."

Despite the threat that they both knew she couldn't pull off without some kind of miracle, Beelzebumon's smirk only widened as he straightened up and pinched her cheek teasingly. He gave a low chuckle as Ciagan swatted his hand away. "Whatever, lobster-face."

With that he made his way to the door, and Ciagan watched him go with an irritated glare. However, her eyes widened as she saw the holster attached to the back of his jacket with a gun sitting right in it. No, he had two of them, as she spotted another one hooked up to his boot.

_Holy hell, you could've blown my brains out anytime, huh?_ She thought, unable to suppress the uneasiness of being around a stranger with a gun when she didn't. From past experience during her time in the streets of Tokyo, that was one situation you never, _ever_ wanted to get in. Having a gun on you was like a lifeline in those days; if you didn't, you were as good as dead. Simple as that.

"Wrong again. I wouldn't waste a bullet on ya." He said, and Ciagan realized that she'd murmured it out loud. Beelzebumon glanced over his shoulder and threw a smirk her way, though Ciagan gave a nonchalant one shouldered shrug to hide her discomfort and placed the glass in the dish washer.

"I'm gonna take a shower to get this freakin' tea off of me. Yell when the pizza's here."

She turned to give some sarcastic remark, but he was already gone, leaving her to shake her head in disbelief and grin humorlessly.

This was turning out to be one helluva night.

* * *

"You anorexic or somethin'?" Beelzebumon, who was obviously extremely comfortable with his body as he was shirtless, and his spiked blonde hair and feathers still damp from the shower, asked when he noticed that Ciagan hadn't so much as glanced at the pizza perched on the table in front of them. He was already working on his eighth slice, Ai her second and Mako his third, while Ciagan sat in silence, occasionally flicking through the channels of the TV in front of them.

Glancing up to him she shook her head. "Vegetarian, actually. And I eat like a pig, so, no."

"What's a vegetarian?" Mako asked curiously, his mouth full.

"It's a person who doesn't eat meat." Ciagan replied.

After taking a few sips out of her grape juice, Ai asked, "Why don't you?"

Not wanting to explain her health nut tendencies to them, she gave a one shouldered shrug and said simply, "I never could do it. Don't really know why."

Glancing back at her phone as Ai and Mako were starting up a conversation about their day at school, Ciagan typed in, /_Found your ghost_./

At breakneck speed Nina replied with, /_HA! Told you I wasn't crazy_!/

/_I never said you were crazy. Just wrong_./ Ciagan replied, followed up with a grinning smiley that matched the one on her face.

/_Whatever. But this proves I'm still right, right? You know, since you saw the ghostie, too?_/

/_No, wrong. Your 'ghostie' isn't really a ghostie_./

/_Uh…what_?/

/_Hang on a sec_./

Ciagan waited until the three were through talking before clicking the button on her keypad that had a camera on it and glanced up with a grin. "Hey, Bee!"

Flashing a glare at her, Beelzebumon planned on growling something about his hatred for nicknames when Ciagan beat him too it by saying cheerfully, "Say cheese!" and clicking a button on her phone. Frozen on the screen was a picture of a shirtless biker demon Digimon cutting his eyes at her while in the process of biting the pizza slice in his hand.

As Ciagan gave a triumphant snort and Beelzebumon swallowed, Ai looked over at the phone curiously.

"What'd you do?" she asked, and Ciagan turned the phone so the kids could see the screen, but purposely kept it turned so Beelzebumon couldn't.

"You'd better delete that. _Now_." He growled, though Ciagan met his irritated sneer with her sly grin.

After punching in the 'send' button, checking Nina's name in her contact list, and watching as the picture's data loaded to her friend's phone, the gray-eyed teen gave a short laugh.

"Kinda late now, buddy."

His eyes widened some before he snarled, "Ya sent that t' someone?!"

"Relax, dude. She won't tell—" She was cut off as her phone started to ring, with Nina's name on the caller ID.

As Ciagan started to greet her friend, her words were swallowed up in Nina's immediate, and loud, question, "What the _hell_ is that?!"

Wincing at her friend's high pitched voice, Ciagan replied calmly, "Cool it, Nina—"

"You've got a freaking _monster_ at the table and you're telling _me_ to cool it?!"

"Yea, I am! Relax, will you? He's not a monster—at least when he doesn't want to be," she glanced up with a smirk, catching sight of his predictable glare, "he's the kids' friend."

When silence followed, Ciagan asked, "Nina? You there?"

"Yea, yea," was the shaky reply. "I'm just trying to figure this stuff out is all."

"There's not much to figure out. He's the 'ghost,' and a friend of the kids' at the same time. Makes sense to me."

"Yea, well, this is _you_ we're talking about."

"Yep."

"Weird."

"Thanks, I try."

"Ignoring you. Okay, well, as long as he's not, you know, homicidal or anything like that…"

With a chuckle Ciagan said, "I'll tell you the rest of the story later. But yea, that's what I meant by your ghostie not really being a _ghost_ ghost."

Nina exhaled loudly before saying, "Well, guess I'll let you get back to the kids?"

Ciagan was about to reply when a clawed hand reached across the table and swiped the phone out of hers, and she watched with wide eyes as Beelzebumon said gruffly into the phone, "Hey, kid."

Nina squeaked, "Y-yes, sir?"

"Not a word 'bout this to anyone, got it?"

"Yea, s-s-sure. I mean, y-yes, sir!" The girl stammered, obviously shaken.

"Delete the picture, and forget ya ever knew 'bout me to begin with."

"G-gladly, sir."

"Good." The Demon Lord tossed the phone back to Ciagan, who said reassuringly to her friend, "Try not to hyperventilate, please."

Nina sounded extremely relieved now that Ciagan was back on the line. "You're kind of late on that note. See you tomorrow."

"Yep, later."

Shoving the phone back into her pocket, she met Beelzebumon's glare with a chuckle.

"Well, she's thoroughly freaked right now."

Beelzebumon narrowed his eyes at her. Ai and Mako exchanged worried glances as they watched him carefully. "Yea, I could tell. Why the heck did ya even do that?"

"Because when she babysat here not too long ago, she thought that the place was haunted. Purple blurs in the backyard, weird noises on the roof, stuff like that. Which I'm guessing now was all your doing."

"Yea, but ya shoulda kept her thinkin' it was jus' a ghost instead of me!"

"True, but where's the fun in that?"

Beelzebumon had to bite his tongue or else let loose the string of curses he wanted to throw at her. Or better yet, the maddening twitches in his arm as he fought down the urge to swipe up the gun strapped to his boot and give her something to fear, anything to get that goddamned grin off her face. However, the two children sitting on either side of him that were glancing back and forth between him and the nightmare of a chick were reminders that he had to keep his mouth in check around them.

As the room fell quiet, between the children silently musing how their Partner and their babysitter argued like their parents, Beelzebumon daydreaming on half-assed plots to kill Ciagan, and said girl trying not to laugh at the surrealistic situation, a cricket would've committed suicide in such quietness and the tension could've been sliced with a knife.

"You know," Ciagan started, looking at Beelzebumon as seriously as she could, "you remind me a lot of the imaginary friend I had as a kid."

Encouraged by the 'where the hell did that come from' expression he and the kids had, she continued before he could say anything. "It's all pretty hazy, but I remember something about huge rabbit ears and kangaroo feet."

It took a full second for Beelzebumon and three for Ai and Mako for her strange 'observation' to register in their minds. But when it did, the kids tried to stifle their snickers while their Partner finally figured out what she was doing and decided to play along with it, successfully pulling off his fake tense frown.

"Funny, 'cause I remember seein' you in a movie once." Beelzebumon replied.

Ai looked up to Ciagan quickly. "You're a movie star?"

"Apparently so," Ciagan arched an eyebrow as her grin widened. "Bet I kicked some major butt." She flinched as she nearly said 'ass' in front of the kids instead.

Beelzebumon snorted and crossed his arms. "More like ya ate 'em."

Her eyes widened. "Say what?"

The Demon Lord nodded and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Yea…if I remember right, it was somethin' havin't' do with hideous brain sucking zombies. Ya did real good on that part."

While the mahogany-haired girl suppressed laughter that was bubbling inside of her, the children exchanged worried glances and even scooted closer to their Partner. Mako glanced to Beelzebumon and asked nervously, "Hey, Impmon? You'd beat her up if she was a zombie, right?"

At his Tamer's innocent question he broke out into a wide grin. "Sure would."

With that, the children's nervousness was sapped right out of them in a split second.

Not even bothering to hide her own amused smile, Ciagan said, "Or maybe I'm the hot chick kicking the zombie's butt and saving all the fellas. Like Alice off of Resident Evil, only funnier."

Judging from the way his right eye moved, she guessed he raised an eyebrow up under the helmet in a suspicious manner. "…You're a chick?"

"You should know. Don't you remember last week? At the bar?"

Beelzebumon started to ask her what the hell she meant, though he figured out pretty quick that she was still joking and answered, "Yea, bits and pieces. Though I really remember you not being as good as ya said."

Grabbing the cup of water on the table, Ciagan shot back with a smirk, "I could say the same thing, _pencil_."

"What? What happened?" Ai interjected, both she and her brother curious as to what in the world the two were talking about.

Before Beelzebumon could say anything, Ciagan cut him off as she said sagely, "Your mom and dad will tell you when you're older."

"No, they won't," the Demon Lord corrected quickly, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"So you're going to let them both go to their grave as V-I-R-G-I-N-S?" Ciagan nonchalantly argued anyway, not appearing to be bothered by the mention of the children's purity.

The same couldn't be said by Beelzebumon. He gave a disgusted sneer as he felt the pizza in his gut throwing a riot and his stomach attempting to reverse its gears.

"Cram it! You're gonna make me hurl here!" He snapped at her.

"In that case, my mission will be complete." She replied, grinning once more, and as Beelzebumon glared back at her he vowed right then and there that if the chick was going to keep this crap up, she'd be _viciously murdered_ before the night was over.

And naturally, Fate, being the bitch it was, wasn't on his side tonight.

* * *

**Somebody**- Okay, okay, chill out dude! I'm working on it as hard as I can go right now. I'm glad you're enjoying this, though. Thanks for the review!

**Lyzaya**- Thank you soooo much! One of the biggest things for me in this was keeping Ciagan as far away from being a Sue as possible (I can't tell you how many Mary-Sue tests I took for just this one character!), so I'm glad you don't see her that way. Most of the Digimon fics I've seen on here give their OC's that 'damsel-in-distress' feeling about them, but I thought it'd be cool to use a…tougher female. Oh, cool name by the way, I like the sound of it. Lyzaya…it's badass!


End file.
